News In Brief

October 7, 1983

Rio Blanco, Nicaragua

Nicaraguan rebel plane downed by Soviet missile

Nicaraguan troops fired a Soviet-made, heat-seeking missile to shoot down a cargo plane delivering supplies to rebels, a Sandinista soldier said - the first reported use of such an advanced weapon in Central America.

A Sandinista soldier, Carlos Gonzalez Escoto, said Wednesday his patrol tricked the crew of the rebel DC-3 cargo plane by wearing the blue uniforms used by the Democratic Revolutionary Force rebels trying to topple the leftist government.

In other developments, the Nicaraguan Army backed up its threat to cross its frontiers in pursuit of rebels operating out of border havens, attacking a hamlet two miles inside Honduras, a Honduran official said.